Michigan coach John Beilein, left, talks with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo before the first half of U-M's win on Feb. 23 in Ann Arbor.

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Before the Detroit Pistons ultimately decided to hire Stan Van Gundy as their new coach and president of basketball operations, the search firm they hired put together a list of candidates that included many college coaches - including Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Michigan's John Beilein.

Izzo, whose name pops up annually when NBA jobs open, was contacted by the national search firm Korn Ferry, but it never went any further, according to a person with firsthand knowledge of the Pistons' search. That person did not want to be identified because of the sensitive and confidential nature of ...